Last month, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington placed Snyder on its list of the nation’s 18 worst governors, citing his refusal to disclose donors to his New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify (NERD) Fund.

In June, the Democratic Governors Association released an online ad titled “Nerd,” which contrasted repeated clips of Snyder promising “better accountability and transparency,” with references to the same “secret NERD Fund.”

Snyder, a Republican who refused to accept political action committee (PAC) campaign donations to avoid the perception that he is influenced by special-interest groups, set up the fund in 2011. It can accept unlimited corporate donations, and its donors can remain anonymous.

In recent weeks:

■ Snyder adviser Richard Baird, who has a government e-mail address and holds the title “transformation manager” in an organizational chart of the governor’s office, told the Free Press that he is not a state employee but a contractor paid $100,000 a year from the NERD Fund.

■ Snyder has successfully fought court orders to release e-mails and other records about the recruitment and appointment of Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr. Records that have been released suggest Snyder was asking when Orr could start work before a financial emergency had even been declared in Detroit and show Snyder’s office sent Orr his job interview questions in advance.

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■ It was revealed in April that top Snyder officials were involved in a secret education planning group its own members dubbed “skunk works” that was working on a “value school” plan that critics say would allow public funding of private schools. Snyder claimed to know little about the group’s workings, which he soon turned over to state Superintendent of Education Michael Flanagan.

“Elected officials find that life is more complicated than maybe they thought once they get into office,” said Dan Kennedy, an author and assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.

“Although they may still have a general inclination toward being fully transparent, they can’t go for the full transparency they hoped for when they were running for office.”

Snyder’s record on transparency isn’t all bad — and in some ways is seen as above the norm.

He appears in public frequently and almost always makes himself available to the news media for a brief question session following his appearances.

Snyder, whose background is business and accounting and who campaigned as “One Tough Nerd,” has also been active in using the Internet and social media to connect with citizens, live­streaming many of his official events and holding online town hall meetings and Google Hangouts.

His public “dashboards” to measure his own government’s performance have been praised by experts as being in the forefront of state government accountability and transparency. The state under Snyder has also made more contracting information available online.

Though funds such as NERD, set up as “social welfare organizations” under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, have become increasingly common among politicians, Snyder’s two predecessors, Democrat Jennifer Granholm and Republican John Engler, did not have such funds, officials said.

Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said the fund, which raised $1.3 million in 2011 and has not yet filed its report for 2012, is intended to pay for items for which state funds are no longer available and to cover certain costs associated with being governor that shouldn’t be charged to taxpayers.

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She said Snyder won’t release the names of donors, who gave with the understanding they wouldn’t be identified, but may consider disclosing the names of new donors going forward.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington describes itself as nonpartisan, but only two Democrats made its list of the nation’s 18 worst governors.

Results from the governor’s office were mixed after two recent requests for information from the Free Press.

On June 7, the newspaper requested information about who works for the governor, what their titles are, how much they are paid and what funds they are paid from.

On June 28, after repeated follow-up requests, Wurfel provided a list that for most employees provides only salary ranges, rather than the exact salaries requested.

The governor’s office “is exempt from providing that detailed of information,” Wurfel said.

The governor’s office is exempt from the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. But it is subject to the Michigan Constitution of 1963, which says “all financial records, accountings, audit reports and other reports of public moneys shall be public records and open to inspection.”

The Free Press cited that section of the constitution in a June 13 request for Snyder’s expense records and receipts. Similar records and receipts were released without delay after a request to Gov. John Engler during his third term.

The complete set of invoices has not been made available, though after repeated follow-up requests Wurfel sent a detailed summary of Snyder’s expenses on June 28. She then offered to set up a time to view any of the specific receipts the Free Press had originally requested, but said the office would need more time to redact personal information from the records.

Snyder said in a recent interview that he views the transparency issue as one of continuous improvement — identifying problems and working to correct them.

Zack Pohl, a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer, said Snyder is good at talking about transparency, but not at putting it into practice.

“We’ve seen the governor doing everything he can to keep the inner workings of his administration secret from the public,” Pohl said.

Wurfel said the governor and his staff “are working to be incredibly transparent.”